This invention relates generally to the field of photographic equipment, and more particularly, pertains to portable equipment suitable for use in hand-held motion picture photography.
In taking photographs with a strip film fed motion picture camera or when employing a video tape type of camera, it is extremely important that the camera be maintained in as stable a position as possible in order to obtain high quality results. Such stability commonly has been achieved by mounting the camera on a tripod or otherwise supporting the camera, either video tape or motion picture type, on a stationary support so as to eliminate any possibility of the undesirable camera motion. Problems generally arise when it is desired to take motion pictures under conditions wherein it is necessary or desirable that the camera itself be mobile or be moved during the photographic process. In such procedures, it has been the usual prior art practice generally to mount the camera on a wheeled dolly, sometimes running on temporary tracks or on a constructed platform extending along the intended path of movement, thereby permitting the camera equipment to be moved along a smooth path. When it has been necessary or desirable to employ a hand-held camera, high quality results have generally been unobtainable when the cameraman walks or runs with the camera because of the attendant increase in instability, particularly the quick angular deviations along the axes of pan, tilt and roll, which cannot be adequately controlled. Such instability has heretofore been characteristic of hand-held motion picture photography.
In order to overcome the problems encountered in hand-held cimematography and to reduce the great expense normally encountered in constructing temporary tracks or temporary platforms, prior workers in the art have attempted to develop portable camera stabilizing devices. One such device has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,945,428. It was found that the camera had little or no mobility relative to the cameraman and that such devices required that the cameraman have his eye directly adjacent to the camera to properly direct the camera lens toward the object. These factors tend to limit the versatility of camera angles of types of slots which can be made with such devices. Other prior workers in the art have attempted to solve the problem by employing gyro stabilizers and lens constructions which adjust the light paths entering the camera in order to produce a stabilized image. These devices also require that the camera be mounted in a relatively fixed position with respect to the cameraman. The prior art devices tend to restrict the speed of panning and tilting that can be achieved and are further deficient in that they introduce other arbitrary motions of their own if their inherent limits are exceeded by walking or running. Further, the prior art devices insofar as is known without exception, are of little benefit in the stabilization of "roll" or motion about the axis passing thrugh the camera's lens. All of the prior art stabilizing devices of which I am familiar require the addition of considerable weight beyond that of the camera itself thereby introducing a factor directly relating to the strength of the cameraman himself. The foregoing factors tend to limit the versatility of prior art devices by limiting the camera angles and the types of shots which can be achieved by utilizing such equipment.
None of the prior art devices has been completely successful becuase of the lack of one or more of the requirements met by the present invention, namely:
1. remote viewfinding, that is, isolating the camera from the moitions of the cameraman's head; PA1 2. inherent stability, that is, the tendency to resist the rapid angular motions around all three possible axes that plague hand-held shooting, and slow them down to the point that the human body can effectively deal with without introducing new ones; PA1 3. perfect floatation and isolation, that is, relieving the cameraman of the necessity to exert force to support the camera, thus preserving the delicacy of touch required for fine control of the camera's motions; and PA1 4. minimum increased weight, that is, eliminating the need for balancing counterweights, particularly in the case of the heavier 35 mm motion picture cameras and video cameras.